


Forget Me Not

by lavacherries



Series: Forget Me Not [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Aerith Gainsborough Lives, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Demigirl Aerith, F/F, Fix It Fic, Flashbacks, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Near Death Experiences, Nearly Drowning, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, Touch-Starved, Trauma, aerith swears constantly because fuck you, background OCs - Freeform, i'm mainly writing this to cope hdslkhg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-02 17:11:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavacherries/pseuds/lavacherries
Summary: Aerith is brought back to life shortly after being laid to rest in the water, though the odds still aren’t in her favor. She’s losing blood fast, she’s got no materia or potions, and her friends are long gone.





	1. Second Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No potions, no materia, and a stab through her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be a REALLY long fic, with a lot of emotion packed into it. Not gonna lie, the first three fics in this series are gonna be the hurt that leads to the hUGE amount of comfort in the last one, so I hope you're as excited as I am to get through this and make it to the payoff.
> 
> Anyway, I'll be putting any warnings I deem necessary in the notes at the start of each chapter. This time around, look out for: Blood, near drowning experiences, and throwing up.

"What do we do now?"

_Wake me up! Use a Phoenix Down, Revive, anything!_

"She's gone. The only thing we can do is lay her to rest and go after Sephiroth."

_Lay me to-- what?!_

"In the water?"

"Where else could we put her, Tifa? We don't have a lot of time here."

_Don't put me anywhere! Just WAKE ME UP!_

Cloud stepped into the water, making his way towards the center of the pool.

_Cloud, stop it! Just wake me up!_

Strong arms began to lower her into the water.

_Tifa! Tifa stop him! ANYBODY stop him!_

"I'm sorry, Aerith."

_Barret! Nanaki! Somebody stop him! Stop him before he_

Cloud let her go, and the minute she went under, Aerith was out.

###### 

She woke up in a field of yellow flowers, just like the ones back home. The sky above was the most beautiful blue she'd ever seen, not a cloud in sight. A gentle breeze played with her hair, the flowery scent making Aerith take a deep breath through her nose and sigh.

"I didn't expect to see you here so soon."

Aerith turned around to see Ifalna standing there. She immediately ran to embrace her mother, wrapping her arms around her tightly. Ifalna pressed a kiss to her forehead, petting her hair with a smile.

"I'm sorry." Aerith whispered, resting her forehead against her mother's shoulder.

Ifalna gently pulled away, "For what?"

"I didn't finish summoning Holy. Sephiroth got to me before I could do it."

"Yes, Sephiroth did kill you, but you did manage to summon Holy."

Aerith took a step back, confused. "I did?"

Ifalna nodded. "Though since he got to you, he's holding back Holy's power now, so it can't do anything about Meteor."

Groaning, Aerith put her face in her hands.

"Which is why, the Planet isn't letting you back into the Lifestream."

Aerith rose an eyebrow, looking back up at Ifalna. "What?"

"Your friends are strong, but they're going to need you in order to stop Sephiroth and Jenova. You're the last of the Cetra, Aerith. Only you can do this."

"So what, I'm getting brought back to life?"

"Yes."

"How long have I even been dead?"

"A good ten minutes. Your body is at the bottom of that pool now."

Aerith groaned again, slapping her palm against her forehead. "Shiva's TITS."

"Language."

Aerith gave her mother a deadpan look. "Shiva's breasts."

Ifalna sighed. "Anyway, the Planet is giving you a second chance."

"You know, this would've been easier if the Planet would've warned me about Sephiroth. How'd he even find me?"

"Jenova, probably."

"Is Jenova why I didn't get a warning, too?"

"Most likely."

"She's gonna lose an eye nipple."

Ifalna's face twisted into an expression that Aerith could only describe as befuddled. "A what?"

"Nothing. Anyway, how does this whole second chance thing work?"

"Well, you should wake up back in your body any minute now."

"So is there a countdown or something? I'd like to get back soon so I can get back at that son of a--"

"Aerith!"

"Gun. Son of a gun."

Ifalna stared at her, unconvinced. Aerith went to make another comment, but all of a sudden, she felt light headed. Her vision went blurry, and she fell forward, Ifalna catching her.

"Good luck, Aerith. I'll be with you every step of the way."

Then everything went black again.

###### 

The first thing she felt was the cold. It chilled her to the bone, clinging to her skin, her brain, even her eyes. She couldn't move. 

Then came the feeling of floating. Of course with that, came the feeling of water surrounding her.

It was the moment that she remembered water that everything went wrong.

Aerith's eyes snapped open, and without her consent, her body jolted forward, and her mouth opened to take a deep breath. Unfortunately for her, that meant water in her lungs, and she coughed, clamping her mouth shut and gritting her teeth at the pain coughing brought. 

She looked down to see all the water around her was red, which made her look down at her own stomach. Blood was still coming from the wound, as well as the one on her back.

Panic immediately set in.

Kicking as hard as she could against a rock, Aerith shot upward, swimming towards the surface. Her lungs felt tighter and tighter as she went, the water she had breathed in making things even worse. The urge, the need to cough was unbearable, and her throat was prickling as she fought to keep her mouth shut. If she weren't underwater, she would probably feel tears running down her face.

She was only about halfway to the surface when the pain from her wounds made her freeze, writhing in pain for a few seconds. Aerith coughed, but kept her mouth shut, swallowing the itching, burning feeling and instead letting her panic at the thought of sinking further take over.

Swimming as hard and fast as she could, Aerith focused on the surface and only the surface. She let all the pain fade into the background. Her only goal right now was getting out of the water.

The moment Aerith's head was out of the water, she gasped for air, pulling herself out of the pool and rolling onto her stomach. Coughing up water and blood made Aerith's stomach lurch, but then the back of her throat began to burn even more, and the pressure in her stomach only got worse.

Clenching her fists, Aerith dug her nails into her palms as she threw up, tears rolling down her face as the movement sent pain shooting through her whole body. 

Every time she thought she was done, her body would painfully curl in on itself, and at this point, all that was coming up was stomach acid.

When it was finally over, Aerith collapsed onto her side, breathing heavily between coughs and hiccups. Breathing in the cold air was painful, but finally getting some oxygen was a relief. For what felt like hours, Aerith just stayed there on the ground, gasping and wheezing and coughing. Her head was pounding by the time she was able to breathe normally again.

Then she remembered being impaled.

Carefully sitting up, Aerith pressed her hand against the wound on her stomach, trying to keep her breathing steady. She didn't know how bad it was, and she didn't want to look. She had no materia, no potions, and she wasn't even ready to use a limit break.

Voice trembling, Aerith breathed out a single word. "Fuck."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck indeed, Aerith. Fuck indeed.
> 
> _check out my ff blog on tumblr @imacetra_


	2. Not Great

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink, green, and a whole lot of red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: Descriptions of stab wounds and being drowned.

As Aerith stumbled through the Forgotten Capital, her vision blurred in and out. Her soaked clothes and hair, still dripping with water, clung to her skin, and the knot in her stomach felt so tight she worried she’d throw up again. Every step forward brought another stab of pain, another swaying feeling that nearly sent her crashing to the ground. At this rate, Aerith doubted she’d make it to the village before she bled to death.

The city’s almost complete silence was suffocating. All she could hear was the pounding of her head, her harsh breathing, and her shaking, heavy footsteps. The only thing she could really be thankful for at the moment was the lack of the Lifestream’s frantic screaming.

When she made it up the winding path out of the capital, the valley in front of her seemed to stretch on and on forever. Fallen trees and huge pieces of coral merged together into blurry obstacles as her vision melted to the side. The second she took a step forward, her legs gave out, and she fell down the hill, the pain spreading from her stab wound to make her whole body ache. Her head buzzed as she rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill, the world spinning while gravity seemed to pull her down against the ground. At this point, just staying awake was more draining than anything.

The thought of just closing her eyes and letting sleep take her was too tempting.

But she couldn’t quit now.

Rolling onto her stomach, Aerith slowly got to her knees, taking deep breaths as she got back on her feet. From there, she resumed her sluggish walk.

By the time she made it through the Coral Valley and reached the Sleeping Forest, she could barely keep her eyes open, much less focused. She used the trees to keep herself upright, almost tripping a few times when making her way to the next one. All she could do was focus on the next step. Counting them would be pointless, as any train of thought she started was immediately wiped out by the pain. The back of her throat began to sting again, still sore from her fits of coughing and throwing up.

_Aren’t you supposed to be dead?_

Aerith’s eyes snapped open, and she frantically looked around, heart beating even faster. She had just made it out of the forest without even realizing it. Bone Village was right in front of her now. Limping forward, she opened her mouth to call for help, but stopped just before she reached the ladder.

_You should have stayed at the bottom of that lake._

Cold hands fell heavily onto her shoulders, gripping them tightly. Every inch of Aerith’s body was frozen, pure terror paralyzing her as Sephiroth leaned in and whispered in her ear.

_I’ll tell Cloud you said hello._

Her feet left the ground, and she fell forward off the edge, darkness surrounding her within seconds.

###### 

Rather than waking up in the cold, Aerith felt pleasantly warm. Their body still ached all over, but the heat and weight they felt made them want to go right back to sleep and never wake up. 

“Hey, you alright?”

Aerith groaned, squeezing their eyes shut tighter.

“Helloooooooo?”

“Mistral, leave the poor thing alone.”

A gentle hand brushed hair from their face, the touch enough to make them sigh. They shifted around, moving to lay on their side, when pain shot through them like lightning, agony making their eyes shoot open as they gasped for air. Tears came to their eyes, quickly rolling down their face as they threw thick blankets off and went to claw at their stomach. But just before their fingers touched their wound, someone grabbed them by the wrists and yanked their arms away.

Gritting their teeth, Aerith sucked in air and let their head fall back, taking deep breaths and waiting for the pain to fade. After what felt like forever, sharp pains turned into a steady throbbing discomfort.

“Do you need a drink or something, hon?”

Aerith opened their eyes again to look at whoever had spoken. A woman was stroking the back of their left hand with her thumb, a look of concern on her face. Her long, brown hair was pulled into two low twisted ponytails, reaching the floor where a bowl, a few hand towels, and a small pile of folded clothes sat. Looking back to the woman, Aerith slowly nodded.

The woman smiled, before turning to the person at Aerith’s other side. “Can you go get a glass of water and some soup?”

“Got it.” Whoever had spoken immediately got up and walked out.

“Where am I?” Aerith asked, their voice scratchy.

“You’re a little ways away from Bone Village.” The woman said, turning back to them. “You gave everyone quite a scare when you fell.”

“When I fell?”

She nodded. “You apparently just froze at the top of the ladder before passing out and falling off the ledge. If Mistral hadn’t caught you, you might’ve been even worse off than you are now.”

Aerith squinted, confused. “Mistral?”

“Oh, sorry. Mistral’s my wife. She’ll be back any second with some water for you.”

“Thank you…”

She smiled, gently patting their hand. “No problem, sweetheart. I’m Aria, by the way.”

“Aerith.”

“Nice to meet you, Aerith.”

“You feeling any better?” The other person, Mistral, asked as she sat down.

Aerith turned to her, sitting up a bit to take the water she held out. As they drank, they thought about the question. Sure, their body still ached all over, and their stab wound still hurt, but at least they were warm and dry.

“A bit, yeah.”

“Good. Aria’s been worried sick ever since we brought you back here.”

“I appreciate it.”

Aria shook her head. “No problem. If you don’t mind though, how’d you get hurt so bad?”

Staring down at their empty glass, Aerith thought back to being stabbed by Sephiroth, to being dropped into the water. They held the glass tighter, pressing their lips together.

“It’s a long story.” They eventually sighed.

“We’ve got time.” Mistral said, before raising an eyebrow when Aria shot her a look.

“You don’t need to tell us if you aren’t comfortable. All we need to know is that you’re feeling better.” Aria squeezed Aerith’s hand, smiling comfortingly.

Aerith nodded. “Thank you.”

Mistral cleared her throat awkwardly. “Are you hungry? I brought some soup.”

“Starving.”

Chuckling, Mistral handed them the soup and spoon, took the empty glass, and left again. Aria turned around to grab the pile of clothes from the floor. Aerith blew on the soup before drinking what they had scooped up with the spoon, watching Aria look through the small pile.

“So, your clothes are pretty dirty. I don’t think your dress is even salvageable, honestly. So, I grabbed some of my clothes for you to wear until we can get you some new ones, if you’re comfortable with it!”

Aerith looked down at themself, and immediately scrunched their nose up in disgust. Like Aria said, their clothes were dirty. Dark blood stains covered the front of their dress, and it looked like the hole made by Sephiroth’s sword had been made even bigger to let Aria actually patch them up. Speaking of which, Aerith’s wound was looking a bit better. Not great, but at least blood wasn’t gushing out of it. The wound had been closed up, but it was a sickly, mottled pink and dark grey at the edges. What looked like thin green veins spread from the center of the scar all the way to their sides, and when they unbuttoned their dress a bit more, they saw the glowing veins had crept up to their ribs.

Not great was an understatement.

“I used a restore materia on you, and when the wound closed, it just kind of slowed down. Normally, it’d heal all the way, but the skin is still sensitive, and if you aren’t careful, the wound might reopen. I can’t even try to explain the color or the weird veins, honestly.”

Sighing, Aerith chalked the funky healing up to Jenova fucking things up. They wouldn’t be surprised if Sephiroth’s sword had some weird alien cells on it courtesy of his creepy mom.

“Well, at least I’m not bleeding anymore.” They shrugged, turning to Aria. “Do you think I’m okay to shower or something? I’d rather not get your clothes all gross, especially with how good you’ve been to me already.”

A little stunned, Aria nodded. “Uhm, of course. You should probably finish eating first, though.”

###### 

After finishing their soup and a couple more glasses of water, Aerith was carried to the bathroom by Mistral. She told them how the shower worked, and that they were free to use anything they needed to clean themself up. Once the door was shut, Aerith let out a sigh, unbuttoning their dress and flinching every few seconds. Just moving shot pains through their body.

Once they peeled their jacket, dress, bracelets and underwear off, they walked over to the shower and turned it on. After sticking their hand under the spray to check the temperature, a chill ran up their spine, despite the water being perfectly warm.

Pulling their hand away, Aerith walked over to the small closet on the other side of the bathroom, grabbing a towel and drying their hand on it before putting it on top of the counter next to the sink. They pulled the shower curtain back, closing their eyes and taking a deep breath. Their chest felt heavy, and a buzzing sensation from their ribs to their throat made it hard to breathe. They wanted to claw at their chest, tear through it and just curl into a ball and disappear. The anxiety settling in their stomach didn’t make things any better.

Eventually, they managed to force themself to get into the shower. The feeling of water hitting their skin made Aerith nervous, but at least the heat was pleasant.

As they tilted their head back to get their hair wet, they focused on the ceiling, trying to keep their breathing slow. Once their hair was thoroughly soaked, they grabbed the bottle of shampoo from the small shelf on the wall. They dumped some into their hand, let about half of it fall into their other, then began to work it into their roots, gently massaging their scalp. It didn’t take that long, thankfully, and after they felt they were finished, they tilted their head back once more and used their hands to shield their eyes from the water and shampoo.

Turning the shower head so the spray hit the wall, Aerith then grabbed the conditioner, put a bunch in their hand, then bent forward, gathered up all their hair, and let it hang in front of their face. Combing the conditioner through their long, thick hair took some time, but they were thankful for the distraction.

After they finished, they sat down and grabbed the bottle again to read the label to pass the time while they let the conditioner set. They hadn’t been paying a lot of attention to it earlier, but now that they were really looking at the bottle, they realized that both the shampoo and conditioner were strawberry scented. They hummed a bit as they thought about how they always used the same kind of hair product back home. Elmyra had picked it out for them when they were younger, and since then they’d always used it. The sweet smell made them feel a little more relaxed, and they let out a little sigh.

Another minute passed before Aerith stood up to rinse their hair. They grabbed the shower head to turn it, accidentally making the water spray directly into their face in the process. Gasping, they stumbled back, falling back onto the small seat in the corner of the shower. Luckily, they didn’t hit their head, but as they spat out the water that had gotten into their mouth, they felt their stomach lurch and the skin on their shoulders crawl.

Once they had wiped water away from their face, they rubbed at their shoulders, trying to ignore the sting of tears in their eyes as the tingling feeling persisted. They pulled the shower curtain back a bit, grabbed the towel from the counter, screwed their eyes shut and pressed the towel against their face. Aerith stayed like that for awhile, warm water hitting their feet as they tried desperately to calm down. The air outside the shower was cool, and the feeling of it against their skin was soothing.

It took a long time for their breathing to return to normal. Once they had that under control, they put the towel back on the counter, stood up, and turned around, backing into the water once more, their head tilted back.

They rinsed their hair as fast as they could, grabbing the body wash the second they finished. Aerith wanted to get out of the shower as soon as possible, so they rushed through washing their body and rinsing off again.

Nearly slipping and hitting their head, Aerith hopped out of the shower, grabbing the towel and beginning to dry off. Then they quickly put Aria’s borrowed clothes on, and wrapped their hair in another towel. With a sigh, Aerith opened the bathroom door a bit and sat down on the floor, staring at the ceiling as they took deep breaths.

###### 

Drying and brushing their hair had taken a lot longer than usual, but once Aerith was all done, they made their way downstairs. Aria told Aerith that she’d wash their clothes, with the exception of their dress, since it was unfortunately beyond repair. Then Aria lead them to the guest room, handed them a change of clothes for the next day, and left.

Aerith set the clothes on the nightstand before crawling into bed, pulling the covers up to their chest, and letting out a long sigh, closing their eyes.

“What do we do now?”

Aerith’s eyes snapped back open, and they saw Cloud looking at Tifa as he held them in his arms.

"She's gone. The only thing we can do is lay her to rest and go after Sephiroth."

They were back at the edge of the pond, Cloud holding Aerith to his chest.. Aerith’s heart stopped as all the blood drained from their face.

"In the water?"

"Where else could we put her, Tifa? We don't have a lot of time here."

Aerith immediately began to struggle, thrashing in Cloud’s arms and shoving at him. Tifa watched them, wide eyed. 

Cloud stepped into the water, making his way towards the center of the pool.

“CLOUD! LET ME GO!” Aerith shouted, clawing at him.

Cloud continued, not even acknowledging Aerith’s attempts to escape his grasp. They punched him in the face, kicked their legs, and even tried crawling over his shoulder to get back to the others.

“TIFA!” They yelled, reaching out for their girlfriend.

Tifa snapped out of her daze, and immediately ran towards them. But just as they grabbed Aerith’s hand, Cloud dropped them into the water. Aerith screamed Tifa’s name as they went under, and their girlfriend screamed as they sank, pounding on the surface of the water. Aerith swam up to the surface, trying to get through, but it was almost like it was solid now.

As the two tried desperately to get to one another, Tifa started getting even more frantic, punching the water’s surface so hard her fists began to bleed.

“AERITH! BEHIND YOU!” Tifa screamed, tears in her eyes.

Aerith spun around in the water to see Sephiroth, his eyes glowing as a twisted grin spread across his face. They immediately reached towards Tifa again, but then Sephiroth grabbed them by the ankles and pulled them deeper and deeper into the water, Aerith screaming as they went down.

Their eyes shot open again as they gasped, their head and heart pounding as they looked all around. While they tried to calm down, pain shot through their whole body, and Aerith pushed the heels of their hands against their eyes, breathing in deep through their nose and exhaling through their mouth. Tears stung at their eyes, so Aerith pulled their hands away, putting their forearm against their forehead. They blinked the tears away and stared up at the ceiling, sniffling.

A few minutes later, Aerith got out of bed and made their way outside, sitting on the front porch with a blanket around their shoulders.

The sun had already risen, and Aerith watched a few birds perched on a tree branch. While the birds chirped away, Aerith sighed and pulled their knees to their chest. The wind played with their hair, and the smell of flowers made Aerith close their eyes, a little more relaxed.

They hadn’t even realized that they’d fallen asleep until they felt someone gently touch their shoulder. Aerith looked up to see Aria smiling down at them, a small plate in her hands.

“Morning. You hungry?”

Aerith nodded, taking the plate. A few waffles, topped with butter, syrup, some strawberries and a little dollop of whipped cream made their mouth water. Aria handed them a fork and a water bottle, and they immediately dug into the food as she sat down.

“How’d you sleep?” Aria asked, crossing her legs.

“Not very well, to be honest.” Aerith sighed, before taking a long drink from their water bottle.

Aria frowned a bit. “Nightmare?”

Twisting the cap back onto the bottle, Aerith nodded.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

Aerith took another bite of their food. As they chewed, they thought about whether they should talk about what happened. They had only met Aria last night, but she had saved their life, treating them with nothing but kindness. They couldn’t think of a reason not to talk about it, since bottling things up could only end poorly.

“Sure.” Aerith eventually said. “Let me finish eating first though.”

Aria nodded. “Of course.”

After Aerith had eaten, she and Aria went inside to join Mistral in the living room. She told the two all about AVALANCHE, and their mission to stop Sephiroth, and about how she’d been attacked and nearly drowned. Then she told them about her dream, and after Aria gave her a hug, she felt a bit better.

Despite the couple’s protests, Aerith insisted that she had to go after her friends. She didn’t care how much pain she was in. Without her, the others wouldn’t be able to truly stop Sephiroth. Thankfully, Aria and Mistral were more than willing to help her out. While Mistral prepared food and supplies for Aerith to make the trip up the mountains, Aria took her up to her room and packed extra clothes into the bag. Aria insisted that Aerith keep the clothes, saying she was already planning on going shopping for new outfits anyway.

Once Aerith’s clothes were all clean, she put them, along with her bracelets and ribbons, in her new bag. While she did that, Aria went to the kitchen to make lunch.

The three ate right at noon, and after Aerith had finished her sandwich and soup, she washed her dishes, put on the winter clothes Aria had given her, and walked to the door with all her supplies.

“I can’t thank you two enough. Are you sure you don’t want anything from me?”

Aria shook her head. “All we want is for you to be safe. Good luck finding your friends.”

Mistral wrapped an arm around her wife’s shoulders, smiling. “Yeah. And if you ever need anything else, don’t hesitate to come back and ask us.”

“Even if you don’t need anything, come visit us if you ever feel like it.”

Aerith nodded, smiling back and giving them both a hug. “Thanks.”

The two hugged her back, and when Aerith pulled away, she headed out the door, waving as she went. Aria and Mistral waved goodbye, wishing her good luck before shutting the front door as she continued to walk.

When Bone Village came into view, she squeezed the straps of her backpack and glared at the path ahead.

“Watch your back, Sephiroth. Next time we meet, it'll be you with a sword running through it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, Aerith starts to chase after AVALANCHE!
> 
> Hope you guys don't mind me shamelessly cramming my OCs into this fic, because Aria and Mistral are gonna show up in the fic again, along with a few other FFVII OCs I've got. Don't worry, they're all background characters, but if you liked them, I'll be posting drawings and descriptions of the two on my FF sideblog on tumblr.
> 
> _check out my ff blog on tumblr @imacetra_


End file.
